LG SP11RA Soundbar Review

The LG SP11RA has a simple design that's similar to the LG SN11RG. It's mostly plastic, with a metal grille covering the front and the sides. There are also two round grilles on top of the bar to protect its up-firing speakers.

The subwoofer is mostly plastic. There's fabric covering three of its sides, though it seems like this material could collect dust and get dirty over time.

The satellites are mostly made of plastic. There's a metal grille covering the top and the front.

The LG SP11RA is wide, so it likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV stand. However, it isn't very tall, so it shouldn't obscure your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on the table.

Like the LG SN11RG, this soundbar comes with a subwoofer that's about the size of an average desktop PC. Since it pairs wirelessly to the bar, you only have to plug it into an outlet to get it to work.

The LG SP11RA's satellites are the same size as those of the LG SN11RG. They're long, but they connect to the soundbar wirelessly, which gives you some flexibility when placing them in your setup. They just need to be plugged into a power outlet to work.

The back of the bar has two openings for the power cable and the inputs. There are also universal holes on the underside, so you can use the included wall-mount kit to mount it on your wall.

The back of the sub has a port at the bottom. There's also an input for the power cable just above the port.

The satellites have an input for the power cable on the back. There are also universal holes so you can mount them to your wall.

The LG SP11RA has an impressive build quality. The bar and the satellites are mostly plastic, which feels solid and durable. The metal grilles help to protect the drivers inside, which is nice. While the sub is also durable-feeling plastic, the fabric on its sides seems like it could collect dust and get dirty over time.

• Manual
• Mounting template
• 4x mounting brackets with screws
• Remote with batteries (2xAA)
• 3x power cables
• Optical cable

The LG SP11RA has a great stereo frequency response. It comes with an AI Room Calibration feature that helps automatically adjust audio reproduction based on the acoustic characteristics of your room. On its default 'Standard' mode, and with the room correction feature on, it has a slightly bass-heavy but otherwise neutral sound profile. There's a little extra punch and warmth in your audio, but it's still well-suited for a variety of audio content. You can also customize its sound using the EQ presets and bass and treble adjustments.

With its bass set to '-4' and its treble set to '-1', the LG SP11RA has a very neutral, balanced sound profile suitable for listening to a wide variety of audio content. It can also accurately reproduce the thump and rumble in the bass range, which is great for action-packed movies and bass-heavy music.

The LG SP11RA has a great stereo soundstage. The soundstage is perceived to be about as wide as the bar itself, though it doesn't have any tricks to help widen it. It also has good focus, so sound objects like voices seem to come from a pinpoint location rather than a more general area.

The LG SP11RA has very good stereo dynamics. It gets pretty loud, and there isn't much compression when you push it to max volume, so it's suitable for use in large spaces and at crowded parties.

The LG SP11RA has a decent stereo THD performance. At normal listening volumes, it falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. However, there's a jump in THD across the whole range when it's pushed to max volume. It may not be very noticeable with real-life content, though.

The LG SP11RA has a great center channel performance. This 7.1.4 setup comes with a discrete central channel, so dialogue is more accurately localized to a pinpoint location in the sound image. Its frequency response is a bit bass-heavy, but since most dialogue reproduces in the mid-range, this shouldn't be too noticeable.

The LG SP11RA has a fair surround performance. Thanks to its discrete surround speakers, surround objects sound more clear and real. Audio seems to be coming from all around you, rather than just from speakers placed in front of you. That said, it struggles to reproduce treble-range frequencies, so your audio may be dark and dull. For a setup with better surround sound, check out the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1 SSE.

The LG SP11RA has a middling height performance. It uses up-firing speakers on the bar and the satellites to bounce sound off the ceiling and back down towards the listener, which helps create the illusion of height. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as real as discrete localization from down-firing speakers found in home theater setups.

The LG SP11RA has an incredible selection of sound enhancement features. It comes with an AI Room Calibration feature that automatically calibrates audio reproduction based on the space you're listening in. It also comes with some EQ presets to help customize its sound: 'AI Sound Pro', 'Standard', 'Music', 'Cinema', 'Clear Voice', 'Sports, 'Game', and 'BassBlast'. The 'Clear Voice' preset doubles as a dialogue enhancement mode, so voices sound more clear and crisp. There's also a Dialogue Control feature on the app, but it only works with DTS-enabled content. Additionally, the AV Sync feature on the app helps reduce latency, though we don't test for this.

The LG SP11RA has several physical inputs. There are two Full HDMI In ports, so you can use the bar as a hub between your different devices. You can also play music that's stored on a USB thumb drive, which is handy.

The LG SP11RA has fantastic audio format support via ARC. It supports Dolby Digital, which is the most common surround sound format. Also, it supports lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The LG SP11RA also supports Dolby Digital and DTS content via Full HDMI In, commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. It also supports object-based formats over this connection.

The LG SP11RA supports both Dolby Digital and DTS via Optical, which is handy for those who watch lots of content from streaming platforms and Blu-rays.

The LG SP11RA has an incredible latency performance. It has low latency via ARC, Optical, and Full HDMI In, so the audio you hear is in sync with the video you see. As a result, it's suitable for watching videos over these connections. That said, some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, so your real-world experience can vary.

The LG SP11RA has fantastic wireless playback support. You can wirelessly stream audio content from your mobile devices to the bar over all the formats we test for.

The LG SP11RA can passthrough the highest-quality bandwidth signals. If you use the bar as a hub between two devices like your PC and your TV, text on the TV appears clear and crisp.

The sub connects to the bar wirelessly, so you just have to plug it into a power outlet to get it to work.

The satellites also connect to the bar wirelessly. They still need to be plugged into a power outlet to work, though.

The LG SP11RA has a small display screen. It shows your chosen settings and the volume levels, the inputs, and the sound preset.

The LG SP11RA has a series of touch-sensitive buttons on top of the bar. You can use them to turn it on/off, change the input, adjust the volume, play/pause audio, and activate Bluetooth or Wi-Fi pairing.

The remote has a simple design, and it lets you control some features like the volume and the input. Since it's not a universal remote, you can't use it to control your TV.

The LG SP11RA doesn't offer built-in voice assistant support. If you purchase a third-party device with built-in support for Google Assistant or Alexa, you can pair it with the soundbar for voice assistant support. Since this requires purchasing a third-party device, we don't test for it.

Update 08/04/2021: We added more information to mention that you can only cast files when a USB thumb drive is plugged into the soundbar. A window appears on the app that lets you see the list on songs on the thumb drive.

The LG Sound Bar app acts as a remote and lets you control all of the bar's features. You can use it to activate the AI Room Calibration feature and the Dialogue Control feature for DTS content. There's also an AV Sync feature available to help reduce latency, though we don't test for it.

Update 08/04/2021:Added more information to the text about the auto-off feature.

The LG SP11RA automatically turns off after fifteen minutes without an audio signal when it isn't connected to an external device. It also supports HDMI CEC, so you can use your TV remote to control the bar's basic features. However, the manufacturer mentions that the bar's features can only be controlled by an LG remote.